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TYRANNOSAURUS REX LIVE AT PROGRESSIVE ROCK FESTIVAL, SPORTHALLE KOLN GERMANY 4TH APRIL 1970 : A CROWN OF DARK SWANSDOWN (EARS107)

Side 1

1 : Hot Rod Mama

2 : Debora

3 : Pavillions Of Sun

4 : One Inch Rock

5 : By The Light Of The Magical Moon

6 : Jewel

7 : Organ Blues

8 : Summertime Blues

* Transferred from the original 1/4 inch tape.

** This limited edition Digi-pack CD release comes as a brand new sealed item.. Limited quantity of two (2) full colour postcards, will be sent out with initial orders (below are extracts from the albums liner notes)

Tyrannosaurus Rex live at the ‘Progressive Pop Festival’, Koln, Germany, Saturday 4th April 1970. Is one of those real gems of a recording that surfaces only occasionally, bringing in it’s slipstream a genuine glimpse of an artist undergoing a radical change of musical direction as he metamorphised from the darling of the underground to full blown rock star and the first genuine ‘Face’ of the 1970’s.

Only six months prior to this exuberant festival performance, Bolan’s world was on the verge of caving in. An extensive (contractually obligated) six week American tour, organised by their (somewhat out of step) new American record label Blue Thumb, had turned into a full scale disaster. His relationship with Steve Took having already deteriorated to the point of no return. Primarily Took’s desire to have his own material performed and recorded as part of Tyrannosaurus Rex was never going to go down well with Mr. Bolan. As Tony Visconti put it ‘there was only ever one star when Marc Bolan was around’. Upon completion of the last gig on 20th September in Seattle. Steve Took was history.

Bolan spoke openly about the changes that were sweeping through his world that autumn. ‘Before we went to America we decided that we would not stay together after the tour. We had grown as much as we could with the sounds we were making. The music really wasn’t making it on stage. and I wasn’t really satisfied with what we were doing anymore. There were no bad feelings, he wanted to go in a different direction. I had to find someone I could get into a new thing with, someone who could share all the freshness and excitement with me’.

That someone was Michael Norman Finn who entered Marc Bolan’s world a matter of days after the now famous advert to find a replacement for Steve Took was placed in Melody Maker. As Bolan explained ‘Had I not met Mickey, I don’t know what would have actually happened. It might have all fallen to bits. ‘Meeting Mickey was very fortuitous’ said Marc. ‘I was in a restaurant just down the road one day and a friend introduced me to him. Neither of us were sure about playing together, but we tried it out and decided it could work out. We went to stay with some friends of mine in a cottage in Wales. I just dragged Mickey away to Wales, where we spent a month letting things get together. Gradually it became very good - we spent twelve hours a day working on the music and we still rehearse every day we are not doing a gig’.

The new decade got off to a very auspicious start, when they found themselves on a Live BBC in concert programme recorded on New Year’s day, for broadcast as the ‘The John Peel Sunday Show’ on 4th January. Possibly the best of all Bolan’s BBC session performances, it showed a definite shift in musical direction.

By the end of the month, Marc Bolan must have felt quite contented in that all concerns over the bands continued existence had finally been put to bed. The Beard Of Stars album made a very respectable 21 in the UK album charts and recieved several strong reviews along with lots of healthy press interviews. It was time to hit the European festival circuit.

Tyrannosaurus Rex were still a big draw throughout Europe and were assured good billing for most of their performances that spring come summer. The show at the ‘Progressive Pop Festival 70 Koln’, was the first really big gig the duo had undertaken, everything until this point had been UK clubs and theatres. The festival itself attracted several big names including : Deep Purple, Procol Harum, Arthur Brown, Coliseum, Barclay James Harvest, Soft Machine and Yes. Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared late afternoon on the second day. There really has been no recorded documents of what in reality is ‘The breakthru period’. The closest we get to it is the performance recorded for the BBC on New Years day and compared to this performance the BBC gig was smooth, sedate and slightly slick.. Three months further down the line and the short lived duo of Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn really went for it during these shows.. In the notes accompanying the original reels for this recording, this gig is summed up perfectly as encompassing everything from tabla acidfolkfreak to electric guitar mayhem with tinges of pop thrown into the mix. The inclusion of both Jewel and Summertime Blues is definitely a sign of things to come, and Bolan’s guitar playing on Summertime Blues is quite simply blistering. Mickey Finn also deserves a lot of credit, his performances throughout 1970 were very committed and it is seriously debateable if several of the more rock orientated tracks could have happened with Steve Took still in the band.

Within a matter of months sessions for the first T.Rex album were well underway. By September the bands name was officially shortened to T.Rex. and the following month ‘Ride A White Swan / Is It Love / Summertime Blues’ (Fly Bug 1) was released. The rest as they say, is history....